Vacuum Accuators for our 1966 and maybe others

[Ford5of5]

About 5 years ago I replaced 3 vacuum actuators for our '66 Tbird's HVAC system with a blend door actuator for 68-73 Mustangs, Motorcraft part # YH-161. Today I received 2 more in the mail that I purchased to repair the rear vent doors. I've seen used-originals going for about $60 each. 5 years ago I purchased them for $15; this time around the cheapest price I could find was $45 each. These are new Motorcraft brand actuators and have a Ford ink stamp on them for the Ford purists.

You may need to use your imagination a little to make them work. For instance, I epoxied the brackets from the A/C clutch actuator to a YH-161. Apparently I didn't do the best job because the epoxy only held for a few months. I went back and tack welding the brackets and it's been working fine for 5 years. For all the other actuators I only needed to remove the brackets from the YH-161 to make them work; the brackets are held in with 2 spot welds and can be removed easily with pliers.

These actuators might be common knowledge but I never seen anyone posting about them so, I figured I would put it out there for other's to see.

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[Ford5of5]

Update: I used 2 YH161's to replace the origional vac pods for the rear vents. Pressure wise, they match the one working origional pod. The only difference is that the lower portion of the body is about 1/8" longer. The extra length did not affect the operation of the doors.